Some days it easy to feel underappreciated. However according to a recent research conducted by Intercall last year employees are not tired of training. On the contrary, most respondents expressed their willingness to participate even in a larger number of programs this year.
After surveying over 200 full-time employees, Intercall revealed that 2 out of 3 employees said that on-job trainings play an important role in their decision to stay with the company. And in fact, 3 out of 4 employees have participated in at least one training program last year.
In fact, when it comes to younger employees (aged under 40), 69% of them claimed that job-related trainings played a vital role in their decision to stay at the current company, compared to the 59% of employees aged over 40.
Keith McNiven from Right Path Fitness commented on the feedback from his employees: “We are a rather small team, so gathering detailed feedback wasn’t a problem. In 2015 I’ve organized 3 trainings for my employees – two in-person workshops and one online course for the customer support team, who telecommute. The in-company survey said that 96% of participants enjoyed the online course more, rather than a classroom training session”.
The feedback McNiven got is rather similar to the results Intercall survey, which pinpointed that 1/3 of employees consider that the current training delivery methods are not an effective use of time.
Solution? Stop investing in expensive in-house, classroom trainings and opt for e-learning options.
Currently, 76% of trainings still occur as in-person workshops/classroom-style training, while interactive online courses were named as the delivering method by only 56% of respondents.
Yet, here comes another problem: only 41% of respondents said that online courses felt effective, while the number for in-person training is 50%. So does e-learning gives us the return or should we choose a simpler, less costly solution to feel the need? On the other hand, the number may have something to do with employees’ self-motivation to actually complete an online course. Considering that the e-learning model appealed more the younger generation, it’s worth mentioning this popular joke about the Millennials does exist for a reason – they were raised to believe that anyone can get a trophy even for mere participation.
In other words, if you deserve a reward by just showing up, you are also going to believe that you have a big enough value to deserve a big investment in your development. Older generations, on the contrary, are typically content with “learn as you go” approach through trial and error, while younger folks probably expect a more structured, guided approach to development.
Speaking of which, the survey didn’t highlight the manager’s role as a coach. It doesn’t matter how the training is delivered – online or in-person. If the manager does not play the supporting and coaching role, the learning will soon be lost without even being adopted at the workplace.
